


With Careful Hands

by TAenean



Category: Star Trek
Genre: Deaf Character, Disability, M/M, Muteness, Vulcan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2017-05-31
Packaged: 2018-11-07 11:23:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11057922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TAenean/pseuds/TAenean
Summary: This is the story of how two young Vulcans met, based off of Toastybumblebee's OCs from tumblr (http://toastybumblebee.tumblr.com/) and written by me.---Reach out to others courteously. Accept their reaching in the same way, with careful hands. - Surak





	With Careful Hands

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Toastybumblebee](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Toastybumblebee).



Suvek sat down in the library, opening his bag to pull out a data PADD before zipping it up again and placing it out of the path of others under the table where it would not act as a trip hazard. He had a free learning session currently, and was up to date on his assignments so was taking the time to focus on some super-curricular learning. He had been reading a science journal recently which contained a fascinating paper on the gene-by-gene nature of disease resistivity in plants, and how one deviation could cause the failure of a crop or lead to new levels of plant productivity.

_Pias, does that mean servant, child or male lover?_

He paused in his reading; this was the fifth time this week he had perceived someone else's voice in his mind, although it had never been clear enough for him to pick out the words. Perhaps they were unaware their shielding was inadequate, or maybe they just did not expect anyone to have their shields even partially lowered as he did. Allowing other's minds to brush past his own allowed him to know a person's whereabouts if they weren't looking for him, and his friends knew to broadcast his name telepathically if they were trying to catch his attention.

_It could be any of them in this context; the author has left the nature of the protagonists' relationship unclear. Ancient human literature is...more complicated than I first anticipated._

When the voice returns, he stops reading and looks around the room but everyone seems hard at work, and he is unable to pick out a discernible outlier. To contact the person back telepathically without knowing who they could be impolite and possibly be an invasion of their privacy, but if they are unaware that he can hear them, it would be best he warn them for future reference. He waits to hear the voice again, to see if he can locate the speaker but is met only by the silence he is used to hearing. Perhaps the other telepath has realised their error and replenished their barriers, or maybe they have simply finished speaking or gone out of 'earshot'. Suvek resolves to find out; it is necessary to warn whoever the other was that their thoughts were more public than they expected. He would not admit it, but he was also curious about what the person was like, someone who could broadcast their thoughts so clearly must be a practised telepath, especially if they were doing so without their full knowledge.

Yes, he would find the unknown speaker. After all, what is necessary is always logical.

\---

The next time he hears the other voice, it is again an indistinct sound. Perhaps it is the crowded nature of the area they are in currently, masking the thoughts of the other, or maybe distance plays a part in the strength of his words, but that theory holds less ground as he was not sitting close to anyone previously. He tries to pick out a face from the library in the ones that pass him in the corridor, but to his dismay finds multiple individuals who could be the stranger he wishes to find. It would be best only to approach the person when the margin for error is minimal, as most of his classmates would not appreciate their mental control being questioned even out of concern.

It is the same for the next five times, by the end of the week he is beginning to believe that the probability of finding the stranger is so slim he will have to give up his search. When he does finally meet them, it is in fact by pure chance rather than by listening out for his voice as he had been doing. Every Kaur-gad their afternoon learning session is replaced with extra-curricular activities specifically for their year group. Today they were practising their logical debating skills with a partner, with the teachers patrolling around checking for unintentional fallacies. He's waiting for T'Lorras, a girl in his year who runs the biology society with him and often likes to work with him in this session when someone steps up beside him.

_Savensu Vevaul said that I should partner with you for this session. My name is Sotak; telepathy is the only way by which I may communicate._

Suvek is, for a second, too stunned to reply, and Sotak tilts his head to the side in a questioning manner. Suvek's cheeks flush green at his lapse in control, his first chance to truly meet the elusive stranger he had heard and he manages to make a mistake at the first hurdle. His chance to reply is interrupted by the arrival of T'Lorras, her long hair intricately braided as always. Once she catches his eye, he knew it would be rude to interrupt her, even if it was telepathically and without her knowledge.

"Greetings Suvek, I did not realise you had another partner for this session."

If T'Lorras was prone to emotion she could perhaps be annoyed at him, but as she is Vulcan, she is probably merely intrigued as to why he has changed partner at such short notice. After all, he had no reasons to swap partners, as his pairing in classes with her was a situation more than adequate for the two of them.

"Savensu asked me to switch partners for this session. Rasen appears to be free; perhaps you could work with him."

Suvek replies nodding in agreement before saying her farewell and leaving the two of them alone again. Sotak, who had remained silent while they Spoke, turned to him, his facial expression displaying obvious curiosity to those who were familiar with Vulcan body language.

_Your accent is unusual, I did a project on dialects last year, but I do not recall anything similar. Is it a sub-dialect of Ara'Kahr? I was not aware that they emphasised the soft sound of consonants to such a large extent._

There is no malice in his words, but Suvek finds they make him unreasonably uncomfortable all the same. Although Vulcans have a faster than average ability to pick up new skills, especially as children, it had always been difficult for him to vocalise as he was not able to self-check if the sounds he is making are the same as the ones he is supposed to be saying. When he was a small child and had first attended schooling, many of the children had not understood why his speech was so different from theirs and had isolated him from their activities. That was not the case now, but he still occasionally met someone who would be disparaging at his attempts to speak aloud.

_I wouldn't know. I did not get a chance to introduce myself, my name is Suvek, and I am deaf. I primarily vocalise in public and can lip read as well as using sign language but, at home, I also speak telepathically._

It is Sotak's turn to seem surprised, and when he replies he even seems a little bashful at his mistake. It had not been his intention to irritate him; he did not often engage in conversation with others his age often and in his eagerness to learn more about the new dialect he had neglected to think if it would be appropriate to ask about it.

_I had not noticed, you vocalise adequately. Unfortunately, do not know VSL, if I wish to communicate without my telepathy, I must write it down or use an interpreter. It will be far more efficient to speak with a classmate directly._

Emotionalism is a slippery slope, but Suvek feels a wave of empathy for the other Vulcan. He too knows what it is like to be unable to express yourself to others, a problem he had slowly overcome as he grew up. He is the only person in their year with the necessary skill in telepathy to communicate with Sotak adequately, if he does not speak with him, he will be cut off from the rest of the group again.

_If it is more efficient, then I shall have to be your partner next week._

Sotak does not smile, but it would be a lie to say he was not satisfied.

**Author's Note:**

> Kaur-gad=Lit. Fifthday (Friday)  
> Savensu=Teacher


End file.
